User Friendly Computers
of Royal Oak
Small Office - Home Office - Computer Consulting
Phone: 248-585-9132
Email: Bill Woelk
Upgrading vs. Purchasing a New PC?
By: Bill Woelk
Should I upgrade or buy a new PC? This can be a difficult decision to make. I wrote this article with the idea of playing devil's advocate and helping people to sort out the the often overlooked pitfalls involved in deploying a new PC. There are both positive and negative aspects to consider before plunking down your hard earned cash on a new PC. In some cases it might be more cost-effective to simply upgrade, or repair an existing system.
The PC industry has changed a lot in the last decade. Previously we were all stuck on this endless upgrade treadmill. PC hardware and software technology was advancing at a very rapid pace. Intel would introduce a new faster CPU and the major software vendors like Microsoft would quickly follow that up with new and improved operating systems, with more new features, that used more memory and required faster computers to run on. It was an endless upgrade treadmill!!! In many cases after only six months that shiny new computer was starting to get a little bit sluggish and you knew it was time to upgrade again. When you got your new PC home you could always count on it being exponentially faster than your previous model.
Then something changed. I place this period of change around the end of the last millennium, or about the time of the 1999 Dot Com market crash. The economy then slumped for several years afterwards. The 911 attacks further damaged the US and world economies. Today we are in what's referred to by many economists as a muddle through economy. This new age economy has effectively put the brakes on the PC upgrade treadmill. The WinTel monopoly has further hindered the PC business by stifling new hardware and software innovation. Microsoft is still under watch by the DOJ for its past monopoly abuses. This watch period was recently extended by the judge overseeing the case until November of 2009. Microsoft has a tendency to buy up new technology companies, assimilating their innovations and then doing nothing with them, essentially killing them off. I compare this business activity to the actions of the mechanized Borg race popular on Star Trek. Sales of laptop have just recently exceeded those of desktop computers. So what your say, well laptop computers have always lagged behind in performance when compared to desktop computers. high performance takes a lot of electrical power, something a laptop running on a battery has a limited amount of. As a result laptops have slower CPU's, memory and system buses. They simply can't run the most demanding software applications as quickly as a mid to high end desktop system. As a result a lot of software is written with this fact in mind.
The above factors have resulted in an unusual situation where older hardware is frequently fully capable of keeping up with current software. This is especially true of office suites and web browsing, probably the two most popular computer tasks. This is because the newer software has not kept pace with the advancements made on the hardware side. Currently there are both AMD and Intel 64-bit processors widely available, but little if any in the way of 64-bit software that can take advantage of the added processing power a 64-bit system provides. This situation will hopefully improve with the adoption of Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit edition. Windows XP Pro 64-bit edition is often referred to as the orphaned operating system. Its been for sale for many years, but nobody will bother write software or drivers for it. Just trying to find a good antivirus program for WinXP 64 can be a challenge.
Getting back to our central topic: One of the most overlooked cost factors in a new PC, is the cost of outfitting it with commonly used applications. Many people just assume MS-Office will come pre-installed on a new PC for no extra charge. Wrong! Typically when office is pre-installed, its only a 60-day trial balloon. The cost of purchasing a full new office suite and a few other essential applications can easily exceed the entire purchase cost of a new computer. Do the math, its common practice for businesses to figure the cost of a deploying new desktop PC's at 25% outlay for the new hardware and a 75% outlay for the new software and its maintenance.
I would start by making a list of all of the applications you need to perform your everyday work with. While an office suite is an obvious first item, don't forget others like: photo-editing/publishing software, DVD/CD burning software, antivirus, antispyware, communications/fax software, scanning/OCR applications, database/contact applications, and utility/backup/system/maintenance applications.
If you are not sure what all you have installed on your present PC. Open the control panel and click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. Look at the list of installed software on your computer. Now add any items you may have overlooked to your installed software list. Once your list is completed, go online, or go shopping at a local computer retailer and look up the cost to upgrade and, or replace all of these applications. If you own retail (boxed) versions of your software they can frequently be reinstalled on a new system with little trouble. Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) versions are a mixed bag though, so be careful and read the EULA's that came with them. Most OEM software can not be transferred and must follow the old PC to the scrap yard. When moving to a very new operating system like Windows Vista, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find that no drivers exist to operate your aging printers or scanning devices. Vista comes out of the box with very little in the way of drivers to support older hardware. Be sure to check your hardware vendor's web sites for Windows Vista printer drivers and any other peripheral devices that you connect to your existing PC. This is one of the main reasons many businesses are holding off on upgrading to Windows Vista.
Now tally up the total replacement cost for all of the software and hardware that will need to be replaced. Keep in mine that many programs written for older operating systems like Windows 9x may not work correctly under Windows XP, or Vista. Add your software/hardware upgrade cost estimate to the purchase price of your new computer. Don't forget to include your installation labor time. Try to estimate how long it will take you to get all your previous settings restored the way you like them. Be sure to include exporting and importing old emails, address lists and data over to the new PC. Multiply your estimated labor times by what you feel your labor is worth per hour. You should now have an accurate assessment of what your new computer's final deployment cost will be. Please review the following tips on what to consider before purchasing a new computer:
- Beware of new machines advertised as being preloaded with free software and or expensive office suites. Frequently these factory preloads are nothing more than free trial balloons that expire after 30-60 days of use. After the trial period expires the trial applications will shutdown, until you pay the vendor $$$ to re-activate them.
- Many major brand PC vendors no longer supply application disks with their new computers. Typically the pre-installed software is stored on a hidden hard drive partition. If the hard drive should fail or be wiped out by a virus. You may need to either send the machine back to the manufacturer for reloading, or pay for expensive replacement disk(s) from the OEM (original equipment manufacturer). Note: These OEM disks will typically only work with that brand of computer. If you think you can install that Dell OEM copy of Windows XP on to a newer PC, think again. This is a EULA violation. This is another reason why backups are so important.
- If you have OEM CD(s) for an operating system or office suite installed on your brand name PC, be aware that many OEM end-user license agreements (EULA's) state that the licenses expire the moment you take an older system out of service. OEM licenses are not normally transferable to another computer. This may require you to repurchase all new retail copies of your existing OEM software, or purchase new upgraded OEM licenses to use on a newer PC. In many cases the cost of upgrading, or replacing all of your existing applications can easily exceed the entire hardware purchase cost of a new PC. I can help you determine whether your existing software can be transferred, or will need to be repurchased.
- Another often over-looked factor is the amount of lost time and productivity you may incur in moving, or importing and exporting all of your existing data and applications from an older PC to a new one. Consider what your own time is worth to you. Don't forget to include the time needed to download and apply multiple update patches. If you only have dial-up Internet access, this process could take hours to complete.
- Some new operating systems or applications such as Windows XP and Symantec Norton System Works for example, include a new feature called software activation. Activation typically locks the application or operating system to the original system hardware it was installed on. Depending on the individual software EULA requirements, you may or may not be able to transfer the software to a new computer when you abandon your old one. At a minimum, it typically takes a long distance phone call to the vendor's support line to explain why you are installing the older software on a newer PC. Depending on whether they believe you or not, they may or may not provide you with a new unlock code.
- As many of you are probably already aware. Unlike the golden days of DOS and Windows 3.1, you can no longer simply copy or move existing applications from your old hard drive over to your new one and expect them to function. Most modern 32-bit applications have to be installed into the Windows operating system registry, in addition to the hard drive, in order to function. The Windows registry is a special database that holds all of the user, machine and application specific settings needed by Windows to operate your computer. Most contemporary software programs have literally hundreds of registry entries that are normally created by the application's setup program during the installation process. This is the main reason why modern applications have to be uninstalled and reinstalled, versus simply being copied over to a new computer system.
- Be wary of new computer systems advertised by the major computer vendors with unbelievably low prices. Be sure to read all of the fine print carefully. These bargain basement PCs are often stripped down, under-powered systems. Unless you are a hardware guru you may find yourself being misled by carefully worded advertising, specifications and or sales pitches. Some things to watch out for:
- Missing technical specifications in advertising literature or on the manufacturer's/supplier's web sites. This may simply be an innocent oversight, or they may be trying to hide the fact that the missing specification(s) are not very good. An example of this is the contrast ratio of an LCD monitor. A good LCD monitor will have a contrast ratio of 700:1 or higher. If this spec is missing there is a good chance the supplier is trying to obscure the fact that the LCD monitor being advertised at a low price is an older model with a poor contrast ratio.
- On some recent systems I have worked on with onboard video, no AGP/Video upgrade sockets were provided to allow for the future installation of a faster video card. Ouch!
- Watch out for low-end CPU chips. A Celeron processor is not the same as a Pentium . A Pentium-D is not the same as a Core Dual, or a Core 2. Similarly an AMD Sempron is not in the same class as an AMD Athlon XP, or X2 processor.
- Beware of cheap PC's with permanently soldered CPU chips. Soldered CPU chips can never be upgraded or replaced. This is the original disposable PC.
- I frequently see power supplies sized so tightly that no reserve power is available to handle future memory or peripheral upgrades. These OEM power supplies are almost always proprietary in design or function. This leaves you with no other choice but to purchase an expensive upgrade power supply directly from the OEM. Modern desktop PC's should have a power supply rated at least 350-430 watts or higher. Be suspicious if no power supply rating is provided, or its less than 350 Watts.
- Be wary of cute compact bargain PCs that lacks memory slots, spare drive bays and extra expansion slots to allow for any future upgrades. Basically what you buy in these bargain mini units, is what you are stuck with until you replace the entire machine. Think limited lifetime/disposable PC.
- Another area where large OEM's like to scrimp on, is the hard drive. While they know better than to advertise a small hard drive, what they will do is install a large capacity, but slow out-dated 5,400 RPM hard drive with a small 2.0 MB buffer, or a bottom line hard drive with a limited 1-year warranty. Insist on a 7,200 RPM hard drive with at least an 8 or 16 MB buffer. Bigger is almost always better when it comes to hard drives. The upgrade cost difference is usually trivial, in some cases less than $10.00.
- Try to test drive a new PC in the store before you
purchase
it. Test drive it preferably with both a firewall and an antivirus
program installed
and running. Open several application windows at once and try
minimizing and maximizing the various windows. If a new PC seems a
little slow with these basic maneuvers, imagine what
it will be like two years from now. Repeat the previous test while a
virus scan or hard disk defragger is running. A good dual, or quad core
processor
should not bog down under these conditions.
Most common office and Internet browser applications run fine on an older high-end Pentium III, or a middle class Pentium IV system. Many times these older systems are simply being hampered by one or more of the following problems: a slow on-board video system, insufficient RAM memory, a slow hard drive, or by malware. If you mainly use your PC for word processing, email and Internet browsing, then you probably don't need to buy a new PC.
User Friendly Computers can inspect your
older PC (without even removing the cover in most cases) and advise you
on whether it would be more cost effective to upgrade it, or
to replace
it with a
new computer. We can provide you with two cost estimates: One for the
cost to upgrade your present system and a second estimate for a new
custom built computer. This way you can make an informed decision on
the
best upgrade path to take for your particular situation.
We can also take the hassle out of purchasing a new
system by transferring
your existing applications and data over for you. We can also
advise you on whether your current applications are transferable
and
which ones
will need to be upgraded, or replaced. This
way you can budget more accurately in advance of what your new
computer's true deployment costs will be.
Please call Bill Woelk at 248-585-9132
for an affordable PC
upgrade/replacement cost appraisal.
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